Selfie

[Karen ann Donnachie, PhD // Doctoral Thesis: Full-text]
This multidisciplinary, practice explores the phenomenon of the selfie (understood as a networked, vernacular, photographic selfportrait) in order to propose a new critical understanding of its effect on wider photographic self-portrait practice, and photography in general.

Significantly, “The Human Use of the Human Face” depicts the selfie as more than a mere vernacular object or action and is not satisfied with the dismissal of the selfie as a direct remediation of the traditional self-portrait. Instead this thesis maps the complex, and sometimes controversial genre of amateur self-portraiture as it sits somewhere between performance, narcissism, social tic, intrinsic desire for self-projection and a possibly irrational quest for authenticity in the photographic image.

This practice-led research is articulated through the creation of original digital and electronic artworks including speculative camera design, social media web apps and immersive installation; through interviews with contemporary artists; and finally through the discussion of cultural, aesthetic and photographic theory. This research examines the privileged position the selfie holds inside a rapidly expanding and evolving social media ecology as it becomes both vehicle and tool, a symbol of personal, social, cultural and political identities. Along with the prevailing concerns surrounding the selfie and its reflection on contemporary society, this thesis inserts notions of human affect, connectedness, belonging and being human into the discussion concerning the motivations behind, and social consequences of, the selfie in three areas: first life, second life, and afterlife.

This thesis was presented in 2016 for my PhD (Art), awarded from the School of Design & Art, Curtin University, Western Australia, 2017.

У доповіді проаналізовано феномен селфі як наслідок поступового збільшення соціальної дистанції між людьми, відповідного перенесення реального життя у віртуальний простір і вибуху так званого «кліпового мислення», коли лайки та світлини заміняють глибші форми комунікації, притаманні старим формам епістолярного жанру. Описано також емпіричне дослідження певних особливостей самоставлення та нарцисизму студентської молоді, які проявляються через наявність або відсутність селфі-активності. Виявлено, що серед українського студентства селфіманія не отримала загрозливих розмірів, як це засвідчують зарубіжні дослідження, хоча і має певні негативні наслідки для особистісного стану. З’ясовано, що в цілому певна адаптивна селфі-активність студентів (до 10 світлин на тиждень) з викладенням їх у соціальних мережах не є шкідливою, навпаки, сприяє зниженню соціальної ізольованості, особливо в умовах переважання віртуальних контактів в часи вимушеного карантину. Проаналізовано позитивні аспекти сел...

The article examines self-portraits taken in 2011 by Indonesian crested black macaque monkey Naruto with wildlife photographer David Slater’s camera. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) filed a lawsuit against Slater to request that the monkey be assigned copyright and that PETA be appointed to administer proceeds from the photos for the benefit of Naruto and crested macaques in the reserve on Sulawesi. With this provocative lawsuit PETA wanted to stimulate discussion about expanding legal rights for non-human animals. These photographs, the discussion concerning them, and the court case shed light on the embodied agency of a non-human animal and human-animal relations in visual culture. In this article, I examine what it means when an animal points a camera at himself and takes a picture. I argue that the knowledge that the picture of the monkey is taken by the monkey himself causes the picture to be seen in a new light and raises questions as to the animal’s status as an object and an Other. Furthermore, it urges a thorough re-examine of the agency, power, and embodied consciousness associated with photography and the practices of self-representation.

У доповіді проаналізовано феномен селфі як наслідок поступового збільшення соціальної дистанції між людьми, відповідного перенесення реального життя у віртуальний простір і вибуху так званого «кліпового мислення», коли лайки та світлини заміняють глибші форми комунікації, притаманні старим формам епістолярного жанру. Описано також емпіричне дослідження певних особливостей самоставлення та нарцисизму студентської молоді, які проявляються через наявність або відсутність селфі-активності. Виявлено, що серед українського студентства селфіманія не отримала загрозливих розмірів, як це засвідчують зарубіжні дослідження, хоча і має певні негативні наслідки для особистісного стану. З’ясовано, що в цілому певна адаптивна селфі-активність студентів (до 10 світлин на тиждень) з викладенням їх у соціальних мережах не є шкідливою, навпаки, сприяє зниженню соціальної ізольованості, особливо в умовах переважання віртуальних контактів в часи вимушеного карантину. Проаналізовано позитивні аспекти селфі-активності (можливість самореалізації, покращення матеріального становища, один із засобів досягнути соціального успіху, популярності; можливість для самовираження, пізнання себе, підвищення самооцінки; розвиток творчого потенціалу; спілкування без меж, спосіб познайомитися з іншими) та негативні (селфі-адикція, заохочення духовної ліні, плекання поверховості, удавана само-реалізація, подоба  осмисленості, оманливе благополуччя, розвиток селфізму, відмова від реального спілкування, зниження самооцінки, фальшиве «Я», залежність від «лайків», психотравматичні епізоди, Інтернет-булінг, секстинг, харасмент). Феномен селфі в сучасних умовах усе більше пов’язаний із особистісним та сексуальним благополуччям. Зазвичай сексуальне благополуччя природно розглядати в
контексті парних стосунків чи взаємодій. Однак у віртуальному середовищі «парна взаємодія» відбувається з кожним, хто розглядає представлене на всезагальний огляд зображення в соцмережах з метою отримання позитивної реакції.
Ключові слова: селфі-активність; самопрезентація; самоставлення; психологічне благополуччя;
сексуальне благополуччя.

Resumen:

En primer lugar, el fenómeno selfie consiste simplemente en volver del revés la sintaxis fotográfica con el fin de hacer coincidir en la misma instancia al fotógrafo y al objeto fotografiado. No obstante, más allá de esta operación, el selfie tiene que ver con el régimen escópico de la sociedad de comienzos del siglo XXI. El presente ensayo analiza un archivo de fotografías digitales tomadas y publicadas en Internet durante el año 2014, todas ellas compuestas de acuerdo con esta estructura enunciativa auto-consciente. En último término, se tratará de establecer una tipología cultural semiótica en torno a la estructura del ver y del ser visto a través de la web 2.0.

Abstract:

First of all, the selfie phenomena consists on turning inside the photoghraphic syntax, in order to concentrate into the same instance the photographer and the object of the photography. In addition to this, it has to deal with the visual structure of the society at the begining of the XXIst century. On that way, this essay may analyze some digital pictures which has been taken and published on the Internet during the year 2014 which have been composed according to this self conscient enunciation. At least we may be able to build a semiotic cultural typology about the structure of watching and being watched through the web 2.0.

Palabras clave:

selfie; sí mismo; cultura visual digital; fotografía digital; panopticon; semiótica.

Keywords:

Selfie; Self; Visual Digital Culture; Digital Photography; Panopticon; Semiotics.

Citar: Broullón-Lozano, M. A. (2015). “Por una semiótica del selfie en
la cultura visual digital”. Fotocinema. Revista científica de cine y fotografía,
11, pp. 215-234. Disponible: http://www.revistafotocinema.com/

A cross-cultural reading hosted by Carleton University and covered by CBC In Town and Out interview

The diagram interfaces geometry and anatomy, humanity and nature, architecture and cosmos, microcosm and macrocosm. It transcends the ancient architect Vitruvius’ text and intersects with ideas prevalent among Leonardo’s contemporaries, at the threshold of modernity. Interweaving many strands of history and encapsulating the diverse interests of Leonardo, his Vitruvian Man was Renaissance’s archetypal selfie.

Second in a series of Three Cinquecento Lectures delivered at Carleton University on the occasion of Leonardo Da Vinci's 500th Anniversary in 2019
1. "Leonardo Da Vinci: From Baghdad to Bayezid"  (Oct 1)
2. “Vitruvian Man” as Renaissance Selfie (Dec 7)
3. "Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mirror Writing" (Dec 12)

Fotoğraf makinesinin icadıyla birlikte insanlar yaşadıkları güzel anları, gördükleri güzellikleri, hayatlarındaki önemli olan olayları fotoğraflamışlardır. İnsanlar bu fotoğrafları aslında bir iletişim aracı olarak kullanmışlardır. Bir haber fotoğrafı ya da o anki mutluluklarını ifade eden fotoğraf hem bir sanat dalı hem de bir iletişim biçimidir. 20. yüzyılın ikinci yarısından itibaren günlük yaşamın içinde vazgeçilmez
bir kavram olarak nitelendirilen teknoloji kültürden sanata hayatımızın her alanında gelişime katkı sağlayan bir araçtır. Günlük yaşam dinamiğimizin oluşumunda etkili olan teknolojik gelişmeler bilim ve sanat alanında değişimlerin yaşanmasına neden olmaktadır. Bu bağlamda, sanat ve teknoloji birbirleriyle sürekli etkileşim ve gelişim
durumda olan ayrılmaz iki kavramdır. Diğer sanat dallarının aksine fotoğraf sanatı teknolojik gelişmelere çok daha açıktır. Fotoğraf sanatının tarihine bakıldığı zaman gelişen teknolojiyle birlikte toplumlar içinde büyük bir ivme kazandığı açıkça görülmektedir. Özellikle son 20 yılda üretim ve gösterim alanında gösterdiği gelişim ve değişim fotoğraf alanında yeni kavramların ve yeni üretim biçimlerinin oluşmasına katkı sağlamıştır. Fotoğraf sanatına dijital teknoloji kavramının gelmesiyle birlikte geleneksel sanat anlayışına karşı bir duruş olurken, yeni biçimsel üretim ve sunumların oluşumuyla birlikte fotoğrafta yeni bir dil anlayışı doğmuştur. Günümüzde bilgisayarın, internetin ve yeni medyanın hayatımızın her alanına nüfuz ettiği bir ortamda fotoğraf üretiminde yeni görsel içerik üretimi kaçınılmaz bir teknolojik gelişimdir. Bu teknolojik gelişimle birlikte üreticinin veya sanatçının zorlukla oluşturabildiği anlatım dilinin daha kolay bir şekilde oluşturmasına olanak sağlamıştır. SLR (değiştirebilen objektife sahip filmli fotoğraf makinesi) makinelerin yerini dijital kavramı ile DSLR (değiştirilebilen objektife sahip dijital özellikli fotoğraf makinesi) makinelerin gelmesiyle birlikte tek bir cihazda hem fotoğraf hem de video çekim imkânı kullanıcıların daha fazla görsel içerik oluşturmasını sağlamıştır. Fotoğraf makinelerinin geçirdiği büyük değişimlerden sonra bugün makinelerin geldiği son nokta ise ceplerimizde taşıdığımız cep telefonları olmuştur. Bu gelişimle birlikte mobil görsel üretimi ve tüketimi (paylaşımı) anlık iletişimi kolaylaştırdığı gibi yeni bir görsel anlatım dili ve tekniklerinin oluşmasına katkı sunmuştur. Bu çalışmada dijital teknolojiyle yeni görsel üretimi olarak nitelendirilen timelapse-hyperlapse (belirli zaman aralıklarında çekilmiş fotoğrafların birleştirilip video haline dönüşümü), selfie (özçekim) ve drone (insansız hava aracı) çekimlerinin üretim tekniklerinin neler olduğu
ve bu görsel üretimin hangi alanlarda kullanıldığı örnekler üzerinden sunumu yapılacaktır.

[Karen ann Donnachie, PhD // Doctoral Thesis: Full-text] This multidisciplinary, practice explores the phenomenon of the selfie (understood as a networked, vernacular, photographic selfportrait) in order to propose a new critical understanding of its effect on wider photographic self-portrait practice, and photography in general. Significantly, “The Human Use of the Human Face” depicts the selfie as more than a mere vernacular object or action and is not satisfied with the dismissal of the selfie as a direct remediation of the traditional self-portrait. Instead this thesis maps the complex, and sometimes controversial genre of amateur self-portraiture as it sits somewhere between performance, narcissism, social tic, intrinsic desire for self-projection and a possibly irrational quest for authenticity in the photographic image. This practice-led research is articulated through the creation of original digital and electronic artworks including speculative camera design, social media web apps and immersive installation; through interviews with contemporary artists; and finally through the discussion of cultural, aesthetic and photographic theory. This research examines the privileged position the selfie holds inside a rapidly expanding and evolving social media ecology as it becomes both vehicle and tool, a symbol of personal, social, cultural and political identities. Along with the prevailing concerns surrounding the selfie and its reflection on contemporary society, this thesis inserts notions of human affect, connectedness, belonging and being human into the discussion concerning the motivations behind, and social consequences of, the selfie in three areas: first life, second life, and afterlife. This thesis was presented in 2016 for my PhD (Art), awarded from the School of Design & Art, Curtin University, Western Australia, 2017.

Baetens, Jan, Ortwin de Graef and Silvana Mandolessi. Digital reason: A Guide to Meaning, Medium, Community in a Modern World. Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2020

The digital revolution has changed our ways of thinking, working, writing, and living together. In this book the authors critically analyse the ways in which these new technologies have reshaped our world in numerous respects, ranging from politics, ideology, and philosophy over art and communication to memory and identity. The book challenges the customary view of a divide between analogue and digital culture, claiming instead that human endeavour has always been characterised by certain forms and aspects of digital thinking, building, and communicating, and that essential parts of analog culture are still being reshaped by new digital technologies. It offers a multidisciplinary approach to digital reason, reflecting the diversity of humanities scholarship and its fundamental contribution to the ongoing changes in our current and future thinking and doing.

Auch wenn man fest davon überzeugt ist, dass Selfies die niedrigste Form aller künstlerischen Ausdrucksweisen sind, kommt man um wiederholte Diskussionen über die Werte oder den Werteverfall, den sie verkörpern, nicht herum. Der Widerwille gegenüber den Selfies hat seinen Ursprung in einem ethischen Instinkt, der alles auf die Ernsthaftigkeit der Absicht prüft; und diese Ablehnung des Selfies als oberflächlich, selbstverliebt und kindisch ist in sich ein Selbstportrait des Gegners als solider Bürger, für den Kunst eine höhere Funktion hat als die Selbstvermarktung und die Zerstörung aller ästhetischen Werte. Denn so viel ist richtig: das Selfie verlangt nichts weniger als die Vernichtung aller früheren Kunstformen. Dadurch beansprucht es, die erste Kunstform im Zeitalter des Netzwerks zu sein. Gibt es irgendjemanden, der das hier liest und der in den letzten 24 Stunden zu keiner Zeit online war? Die Frage ist: wie fühlt sich das an? Vielleicht fühlt es sich nicht mehr wie beim ersten Mal an, weil wir schon so sehr daran gewöhnt sind. Bei genauerem Hinsehen unterscheidet es sich jedoch ziemlich von den meisten anderen Dingen. Wenn ich an meinem Schreibtisch sitze, kann ich sagen, dass das Buch näher zu mir liegt als die Kaffeetasse und dass der Sessel weiter weg steht als das Telefon. Aber was bedeutet es zu sagen, dass online etwas näher oder weiter weg ist? Online lassen sich Entfernungen nicht in Metern oder Fuß messen, sondern in Klicks. Wie viele Klicks braucht es, um das Buch, das ich will, bei Amazon zu bekommen? Wie oft muss ich über den Bildschirm streichen, bis ich bei den Nachrichten angelangt bin? Dieser Unterschied lässt folgern, dass in der Welt des Internets eine andere Logik operiert, und darauf basierend entsteht die Forderung nach einer Kunst, die diese Veränderung verarbeitet, indem sie sie zur Erfahrungsmöglichkeit macht. Nicht nur weil die früheren Kategorien des Raums (nah / weit, oben /unten, davor / dahinter) im Raum des Netzwerks nicht zu greifen scheinen, sondern auch, weil für andere binäre Kategorien dasselbe gilt. Klassifizierungen wie "gut" und "schlecht", "Original" und "Kopie" und so fort sind online unwichtiger als Fragen nach der Anzahl der "Likes", die ein Selfie bekommt, wie es gehashtagged ist, wie es retweetet und geteilt wird. Solche Erwägungen, und nicht die Fragen nach dem ästhetischen Anreiz, entscheiden über seine Wirkung. Für Walter Benjamin ist "die Sprache die höchste Verwendung des mimetischen Vermögens; [da] sie nun das Medium darstellt, in dem sich die Dinge … begegnen und zueinander in Beziehung treten." 1 Für Benjamin ist die Sprache der Schmelztiegel allen Lebens, da sie gleichzeitig Ausdruck von Rationalität als auch von Fantasie und Sinnlichkeit ist. Doch diese Art zu denken wird zunehmend 1 Walter Benjamin, "Lehre vom Ähnlichen", Gesammelte Schriften II, Frankfurt a. M. 1985: 209.

This study explores the practice of "the selfie," a self-portrait photograph, to understand what the selfie means to young adults. We examine how the people who take and share their selfies discover, present, and pursue their real selves and how this process is subject to social consumption practices. In-depth interviews with 66 young adults were conducted. Findings reveal three phases of authenticating acts in selfie practice: to embody, transfer, and use the self. The valued identity benefits that consumers obtain in selfie practice are identified; these are feeling connected, feeling in control, and feeling virtuous. Throughout the performance of multiple roles as photographers, models and users of selfie pictures, the young adults to take selfies reap benefits that are relevant to their identity projects and to their quest for their authentic selves.

For the purposes of this major research paper, I am particularly interested in how self-identifying women use the selfie through the practices and technologies of smart phones and social media as a communication tool to challenge oppressive political statements and ideologies. I hope to open a discussion about the genre of feminist political selfies, and address why the selfie is an effective medium for performing the body as representation and as selfie object; I will discuss multiple selfie campaigns, including Turkish women laughing from summer 2014, and body hair selfies originating in China, now present in the United States and Canada. I will explore feminist political selfies using the new definition of the selfie, as both a practice and an object, from leaders of academic selfie research, Theresa Senft and Nancy Baym (2015). The instantaneous nature of the selfie via the smart phone, and its ability to be shared with friends immediately through social media has been adapted from that of Edwin Land’s Polaroid technology. I argue that these key characteristics of the selfie— the speedy capture of the selfie as object and the quick posting of the selfie as practice through social media platforms— have allowed for the selfie to become the symbol and instrument of a new feminist political movement. I will contribute to the theorizing of the feminist selfie movement by making comparisons to performative artists of the 1970s Feminist Art Movement and grounding the discussion in feminist performance theory as written about by scholars like Amelia Jones and Peggy Phelan. Through these performative social uses of selfies, we can conceptualize how selfies have provided the platform to perform the body in efforts of political resistance, as artists like Hannah Wilke once did, on a global scale.

A reflexão aqui apresentada propõe uma interpretação dos selfies a partir do referencial mítico-psicanalítico da figura de Narciso. Busca identificar de que maneira o arquétipo narcísico está presente no cerne do autorretrato contemporâneo, modelo amplamente replicado nas redes de relacionamento da internet. Fundamenta-se em um recorte teórico que se contrapõe à ideia equivocada de que o narcisismo é a exacerbação do amor-próprio, apresentando esse comportamento como o culto à autoimagem idealizada em detrimento do verdadeiro self. Discute, ainda, como a facilidade da pro-dução fotográfica inseriu a imagem fixa no contexto da sociedade do espetáculo. ABSTRACT The reflection presented here proposes an interpretation of 'selfies' from the mythical-psychoanalytic approach of Narcissus's character. It seeks to identify how the narcissistic archetype is present at the core of contemporary self-portraits, a widely replicated model on social networking websites. It is based on a theoretical framework that diverges with the mistaken idea that narcissism is the exacerbation of self-love, exposing this behavior as the cult of self-image at the expense of the true Self. It also discusses how the ease of photographic production inserted the still image in the context of the society of spectacle.

Over 130 million images with the hashtag ‘selfie’ have been uploaded to the social media platform Instagram. In The Allure of the Selfie: Instagram and the New Self-Portrait, Brooke Wendt examines the significant hold that the ‘selfie’, or the digital self-portrait, has over self and society. Media theorist Vilém Flusser observed that society could become programmed to snap pictures for the sole benefit of cameras, as though under a ‘magical spell’, if photographs continued to be undecoded. Wendt examines this magical spell by analyzing users’ self-portraits on Instagram, one of the most popular contemporary platforms for image production.

Marshall McLuhan’s reframing of the Narcissus myth elucidates the allure of the selfie. McLuhan notes that Narcissus was numb to his mirror image and did not recognize his reflection as his own – he thought his image was that of another. As though unaware that we are looking at ourselves, we quickly become numb to our selfies, taking numerous pictures of ourselves without hesitation. It is the promise of pluripotentiality that fascinates us; however, we are also perpetually tempted and trapped by the notion of creating an ideal self with digital tools such as filter and hashtag functions. In the five essays comprising The Allure of the Selfie: Instagram and the New Self-Portrait, Brooke Wendt thus questions the changing nature of identity and the self-portrait in the age of Instagram.

In Chapter 1 of How to See the World, (2015) Nicholas Mirzoeff asserts that the ‘selfie’, ‘resonates not because it is new, but because it expresses, develops, expands and intensifies the long history of the self-portrait.’ I explore the critical relationship between the self and the self-portrait.

One hand we are unique, every one of us. This uniqueness manifests itself visually in the face, first of all. At the same time it is also in the face, we carry the same features and senses, which belong to all of us: eyes, nose, ears, smell and touching (touching is everywhere, but the thin skin of the face makes it especially touching).

If we see a lot of selfies, we will see a lot of faces. On one hand unique, on the other stereotyped. They are not only stereotyped because of features mentioned, put because we tend to seek the same expression, which is the currency right now.

Departing from a technofeminist perspective, Becoming Image, places the digital image in a broader context of modern and postmodern technological discourses and fashion. In four articles, the compilation dissertation expands a contemporary and imagistic tech discourse by questioning the ideology of "masculinity"-specifically the idea of it as a historically male domain. Through interviews, discourse analysis and feminist critique, as well as an interdisciplinary focus on digital media, the project investigates how everyday image practices open up for new embodied experiences. Focusing on women and social media, the articles examines the way material and immaterial aspects of images overlap in everyday life. Rather than artistic intention, emotions and basic human interaction often lie at heart of becoming image. Fashion is, however, highly present in this critical transformation. Not only as collaborative projects emerge out of combining new technologies and dress-such as using your smartphone to elevate your clothing-but also how fashion is a technology itself. Fashion highlights the body as medium, but fashion is also always (mostly) image.

This essay reviews some of the recent debates on the selfie and places it into a broader context of photographic self-portraiture, investigating how the Instagrammed selfie differs from its precursors, as well as mapping out avenues for further research and interpretation of the results obtained in Selfiecity.

This study discusses the changing ways of seeing in the visual culture from the
traditional period to the digital age through self-portraits which were once painted with
brushes, later taken with cameras and finally, taken with smartphones. With this aim, the
ways of seeing and habits inherited from the European oil painting tradition will be presented.
Selfie taken with smartphones is referred to as “digital object” or “new self-portrait” in
some sources as the word ‘selfie’ is derived from ‘self-portrait’. Selfie is a widely used phototaking
technique in Turkey and all around the world. In parallel with the rapidly developing
and wide-spreading technology, it is undoubtedly the most popular form of photography
among the young and the old alike.
This “new self-portrait” of today traces its roots back to the European oil painting tradition.
The study presents a historical journey starting with a number of traditional oil paintings in
which the artists reflected their self-portraits and continuing with the significant self-portrait
photographs produced with the invention of photography, and finally moving towards the
selfies taken with smartphones. This journey will show that mirrors had once been the helping
device for the artists; and that today, with the developing technology, the front-facing
cameras of the smartphones have turned into mirrors.
The study will reveal the similarities and the differences between the traditional selfportraits
and the new self-portraits of today in terms of ways of seeing.

Selfie photography serves not only a traditional
role of photographic (self)recording, but
also for manoeuvring the space behind one's
own back. Unfortunately, as two realities,
the unmediated and mediated, human and
machine vision, are not matching, there are
many accidents of selfie-makers due to the
crabwalk. By this, the photographic technology
based on the rear-view mirror – in which
objects (may) appear closer than they are –
finally resolves one of the largest tragedies of
human self-perception; the inability to see and
control the world behind one's back.

È la moda dell’ultimo millennio, globale e trasversale. Dai bambini agli anziani, dalle celebrities a Papa Francesco, fino ad arrivare a Mars Rover, il robot lanciato dalla Nasa. Tutti hanno praticato almeno una volta l’arte del selfie, ovvero l’immagine di sé stessi realizzata tramite uno smartphone e condivisa in Rete. Nel 2013 l’#selfie è stato usato 34.924.648 volte nei post su Instagram, mentre la parola selfie (allora agli albori della sua fama) entrava a pieno diritto nell’Oxford Dictionaries come “word of the year”. Gli utenti dell’app Instagram sono passati da 30 milioni nel 2012 fino ad arrivare al miliardo di utenti attivi mensili in tutto il mondo nel 2018. Si parla di numeri impressionanti che aumentano vertiginosamente ogni giorno. È evidente che il fenomeno del selfie non ha rallentato la sua crescita. Viviamo nell’era dell’immagine, in un mondo mobile e sempre connesso «dove tutto è a distanza di un Whatsapp e un – selfie - al momento vale più di 140 caratteri», citando Tommaso Sorchiotti. In uno spazio di comunicazione sempre più frenetico e immersivo, i selfie sono diventati uno strumento di comunicazione visiva istantanea per dire agli altri dove siamo, cosa stiamo facendo, chi pensiamo di essere. La prima parte di questo lavoro è concepita come un viaggio visivo attraverso i secoli in cui specchio, autoritratto e fotografia s’intrecciano. Una premessa fondamentale per capire appieno non solo la pratica contemporanea del selfie, ma soprattutto per cercare di capire come cambia il rapporto dell’uomo con la propria immagine al cambiare della società in cui vive e delle tecnologie a sua disposizione. Successivamente, attraverso gli strumenti elaborati dalla semiotica, questa tesi cercherà di spiegare come il selfie possa essere considerato una pratica riflessiva, una fotografia che l’enunciatore fa di sé stesso, e quali sono le relazioni messe in atto tra quest’ultimo e l’enunciatario all’interno della strategia enunciazionale.

It's is last millennium's fashion, global and transversal. From children to the elderly, from celebrities to Pope Francis, up to the Nasa Curiosity Rover. Everyone has practiced at least once the art of selfie, or the image of themselves made through a smartphone and shared on the Net. In 2013 the hashtag selfie was used 34.924.648 times on Instagram's posts, while the word selfie (at the dawn of his fame) was nominated by the Oxford Dictionaries as “the word of the year”. Users of the Instagram app went from 30 million in 2012 to one billion monthly active users worldwide in 2018. We are talking about impressive numbers that increase dramatically every day. It is clear that the selfie phenomenon has not slowed its growth. We live in the image age, in a mobile and always connected world, «where everything is at distance from a Whatsapp and - a selfie - at the moment is worth more than 140 characters», quoting Tommaso Sorchiotti. In an increasingly frenetic and immersive communication space, selfies have become an instant visual communication tool to tell others where we are, what we are doing, who we think we are. The first part of this work is conceived as a visual journey through the centuries in which mirror, self-portrait and photography intertwine. A fundamental premise to fully understand both the contemporary practice of selfies, and the change in the relationship of man with his image to the changing of the society in which he lives and the technology at his disposal. Subsequently, through the tools elaborated by semiotics, this thesis will try to explain how the selfie can be considered a reflective practice, a photograph that the enunciator makes of himself, and what are the relationships put in place between the latter and the enunciated within the enunciational strategy.

Este trabalho tem como intenção introduzir uma discussão à cerca da autorrepresentação na história da arte com ênfase na obra da fotógrafa americana Francesca Woodman que produziu num período curto e intenso diversos trabalhos influenciados pelo Surrealismo - onde os autorretratos tem
destaque- com grande relevância na fotografia contemporânea.

È la moda dell’ultimo millennio, globale e trasversale. Dai bambini agli anziani, dalle celebrities a Papa Francesco, fino ad arrivare a Mars Rover, il robot lanciato dalla Nasa. Tutti hanno praticato almeno una volta l’arte del selfie, ovvero l’immagine di sé stessi realizzata tramite uno smartphone e condivisa in Rete. Nel 2013 l’#selfie è stato usato 34.924.648 volte nei post su Instagram, mentre la parola selfie (allora agli albori della sua fama) entrava a pieno diritto nell’Oxford Dictionaries come “word of the year”. Gli utenti dell’app Instagram sono passati da 30 milioni nel 2012 fino ad arrivare al miliardo di utenti attivi mensili in tutto il mondo nel 2018. Si parla di numeri impressionanti che aumentano vertiginosamente ogni giorno. È evidente che il fenomeno del selfie non ha rallentato la sua crescita. Viviamo nell’era dell’immagine, in un mondo mobile e sempre connesso «dove tutto è a distanza di un Whatsapp e un – selfie - al momento vale più di 140 caratteri», citando Tommaso Sorchiotti. In uno spazio di comunicazione sempre più frenetico e immersivo, i selfie sono diventati uno strumento di comunicazione visiva istantanea per dire agli altri dove siamo, cosa stiamo facendo, chi pensiamo di essere. La prima parte di questo lavoro è concepita come un viaggio visivo attraverso i secoli in cui specchio, autoritratto e fotografia s’intrecciano. Una premessa fondamentale per capire appieno non solo la pratica contemporanea del selfie, ma soprattutto per cercare di capire come cambia il rapporto dell’uomo con la propria immagine al cambiare della società in cui vive e delle tecnologie a sua disposizione. Successivamente, attraverso gli strumenti elaborati dalla semiotica, questa tesi cercherà di spiegare come il selfie possa essere considerato una pratica riflessiva, una fotografia che l’enunciatore fa di sé stesso, e quali sono le relazioni messe in atto tra quest’ultimo e l’enunciatario all’interno della strategia enunciazionale.

It's is last millennium's fashion, global and transversal. From children to the elderly, from celebrities to Pope Francis, up to the Nasa Curiosity Rover. Everyone has practiced at least once the art of selfie, or the image of themselves made through a smartphone and shared on the Net. In 2013 the hashtag selfie was used 34.924.648 times on Instagram's posts, while the word selfie (at the dawn of his fame) was nominated by the Oxford Dictionaries as “the word of the year”. Users of the Instagram app went from 30 million in 2012 to one billion monthly active users worldwide in 2018. We are talking about impressive numbers that increase dramatically every day. It is clear that the selfie phenomenon has not slowed its growth. We live in the image age, in a mobile and always connected world, «where everything is at distance from a Whatsapp and - a selfie - at the moment is worth more than 140 characters», quoting Tommaso Sorchiotti. In an increasingly frenetic and immersive communication space, selfies have become an instant visual communication tool to tell others where we are, what we are doing, who we think we are. The first part of this work is conceived as a visual journey through the centuries in which mirror, self-portrait and photography intertwine. A fundamental premise to fully understand both the contemporary practice of selfies, and the change in the relationship of man with his image to the changing of the society in which he lives and the technology at his disposal. Subsequently, through the tools elaborated by semiotics, this thesis will try to explain how the selfie can be considered a reflective practice, a photograph that the enunciator makes of himself, and what are the relationships put in place between the latter and the enunciated within the enunciational strategy.

This paper considers Object-Oriented Philsophy's interest in the human as object in the context of the emergence of technologies of self-mediation such as the forward-facing camera and the selfie. Furthermore, the author argues that OOP's notion of object relations shares an affinity with the theory of pathological narcissism proposed by Freudian psychoanalysis.

The aim of this article is to analyse contemporary modes of mediatization of politics on Instagram in Argentina. It focuses on the publications posted on the accounts of President Alberto Fernández, former president Mauricio Macri, former president and current vice-president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and congresswoman Myriam Bregman. The focus is on the modes of enunciative construction and the ways in which political internet users are called upon. From the conceptualizations of the mediatization of politics, and using socio-semiotic tools, a comparative analysis is carried out in order to find variants and invariants in politicians and in the modes of mediatization of the body in the feed of the media platform.

Resumen:
El presente trabajo analiza uno de los fenómenos más llamativos de los últimos años en las redes sociales, que se ha hecho posible gracias a la implementación de las nuevas tecnologías en los hábitos de consumo de imágenes y la cultura del entretenimiento. Nos referimos al fenómeno del selfie, una nueva modalidad de autorretrato determinada por los avances en sectores como la óptica y las telecomunicaciones, que han puesto al servicio de los usuarios nuevos equipos de telefonía cada vez más versátiles. La creciente difusión de este tipo de fotografías exige un análisis de fenómeno, pues se trata de una práctica que conjuga aspectos relativos a la comunicación, la creatividad, los procesos de identificación y el desarrollo de nuevas formas de interrelación social. Se propone un estudio teórico desde un enfoque interdisciplinar, teniendo en cuenta que dicho fenómeno se enmarca en un contexto donde es habitual el intercambio de imágenes a través de espacios como Tumblr o Facebook. El análisis nos ha llevado a concluir, con carácter provisional, que la tecnología se ha puesto al servicio del Yo, y que la práctica del selfie acentúa la visión imaginaria que los usuarios tienen de sí mismos.


Abstract:
This paper tries to analyze one of the most striking phenomena of recent years in social networks, which has been made possible by the implementation of new technologies in consumer habits of images and entertainment culture. We are referring to the Selfie phenomenon: a new self-portrait mode determined by advances in competitive sectors such as Optics and Telecommunications, which have been serving versatile tools to the new media and Internet users. The increasing deployment of such photographs requires an analysis of the phenomenon, because it is a practice that combines aspects concerning to communication, visual creativity, the process of identifying and developing new forms of social interaction. A first theoretical study is proposed from an interdisciplinary approach, considering that this phenomenon is part of a communicative context where people can share data and images through virtual spaces such as Tumblr or Facebook. The analysis of the Selfies has led us to conclude, provisionally, that technology has been put to the service of the Ego, and Selfie practice emphasizes the imaginary perception that users have of themselves.

The essay aims to analyze some emblematic cases of contemporary Italian documentaries in which the use of social photography and systems of computer communication and instant messaging (Skype, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.) are integrated into the forms and documentary practices, activating a transformation process of consolidated representative and communicative logics. Recent films such as Jointly Sleeping In Our Own Beds (2017, Saverio Cappiello), Uozzap (2018, Federico Iris Osmo Tinelli) and Selfie (2019, Agostino Ferrente) are based on the relationship with media devices and technology, combining self-portraits, participative and collective forms of identity. These are works in first person narrative that rewrite the cinematographic subjectivity, in tune with the social culture of community sharing, oscillating between the logic of selfie and those of the net. The narcissistic exhibition of the contemporary audiovisual system takes on the appearance of a social mask in films, where the image literally becomes a membrane of relationship and contact, that reproduces the faces of the protagonists imprisoning them in the frames and crosses their gazes like in a closed-loop video installation. In these films the screen, the mirror and the camera become the same medium: conceptual devices unified in an autobiographical form linked to the evolution of media systems of self-images circulation. The intimate dimension of the story thus assumes a theoretical tension, witnessing the evolution of the communicative and relational conditions among individuals mediated by the technology of the screens. Camera-look, first-person narrative, the collective sharing of the perspective make clear a new expressive pressure between public and private, in which the testimonial instance of the documentary story involves incessantly in the relational rewriting of digital media, imposing a new modalities of dialogue between "I", "us" and "others". A sense of identity and of community membership in renewal, which social photography and contemporary documentary are developing together.

Focusing on two teenagers grappling with the difficult reality of Naples, Agostino Ferrente’s "Selfie" (2019) is a powerful depiction of an entire community at a significant time, when limited perspectives and the pervasive presence of organized crime – with a value system that is intrinsic to the Camorra – deeply influence the present and the future of a generation. Shot by two 16-year-old boys from the Traiano district (Naples), the film is a powerful example of how self-representation can be a strategic and political tool to immerse in a life and its context. Within the framework of studies on first-person filmmaking and self- representation, and mobilizing concepts from the theory of mobile films, this article argues that, through the filming carried out by the two teenagers, Selfie is able to offer us a wider glimpse of a generation, of its everyday life and imagination, and of its perception of the contemporary media imaginary. I argue that, by employing a reflexive mode of documentary and the linguistic forms of the photographic selfie, the film engages the spectator in an intimate flow of images, questioning authorial instances, the relationship of the iGeneration with filming devices, and the different approaches and aesthetic choices that form the basis of every representation of reality.

https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/AEW8QQYIWUX8XUEISRWA/full?target=10.1080/17503280.2022.2078062

The selfie phenomenon can be viewed as a symptom and forewarning indication of a deeper globally spreading trend. The somewhat unforeseen development of the Internet toward one of most important phenomenon of the 21st century – social networking (like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Foursquare and other online communities) – raises some serious questions about its connection to the formation of individual personality. The article will present some psychological aspects and problems of virtual networking. A short review of positive sides to this phenomenon will be given, but the focus will be on critical approaches to potential and real risks and dangers for the personal psychological balance and integrity. It seems that individualistic self-reference and self-promotion, that are usually encouraged by the consumer, competitive and marketing culture of contemporary societies, are taking some new dimensions in the virtual world of hyper-exposure. Thus, the issue whether the Internet encourages, supports and enhances the already present self-centered, infantileregressive and narcissistic tendencies and phenomena will be discussed. Does the available, fast and easy digital interaction without physical presence and validation, as well as the possibility of hiding or taking a false identity, affect the disinhibition from social and ethical constraints and rules, and reduce empathy and the sense of responsibility? Also, could digital literacy, if primarily understood as learning techniques and skills, become inversely proportional toemotional literacy? In order to prevent that, media literacy should be placed in a broader educational perspective, which encompasses psychology of media related to psychology of personality. That’s why it is proposed to use the term “media education” instead of or at least along with “media literacy”.

Identity in today's world is being radically redefined. We now have more personal control than ever for how we present ourselves in social and connected media. As scientists and developers, we make sophisticated simulations, in which we include a range of characters, but the ultimate question is this: how are we ourselves represented within them? What could we be doing differently? This paper presents a plan for embedding ourselves within simulations that is potentially disruptive, but could revolutionize the way we think about our once and future selves.

This chapter outlines the methodological approach used in this thesis to collect and analyse PGUF memes and to examine the selfie phenomenon more generally. The sample considered in this research consists of 99 photographic images, as well as media reports (including radio and online print media) collected between March 2013 and April 2014. To complement these data sets, I have also included the experiences and observations of selfie producers from workshops on selfies, blogs and online comments. The data was collected employing what Markham (2009) describes as an interpretative methodology involving reflective situating. Reflective situating is present throughout this thesis, demonstrated through my openness to recognising the main drives and interests of the study. The methodology also included a research journal in which I recorded observations and thoughts and to which I returned to throughout the research period. The first section of this chapter sets out the research questions guiding this study and explains how they sit within the broader conceptual design of the thesis. The second section addresses the data in more detail and considers limitations to the study. The chapter ends with a summary of the proposed analytic approach.

Given the global ubiquity of the phenomenon of the selfie and the rise of the GoPro action camera, this paper argues that in today’s social conditions of high-modernity the selfie offers a way of bridging the ‘hinge between digital and physical modes of existence’ (Rubenstein & Fisher, 2013, p.13). Although perceived as more ‘intuitive and fun’ than simply texting (Lobinger & Brantner, 2015, p.1857), its material and social practice, however, does not stay unproblematic, but complex and with ambiguities itself. This paper’s discourse is embedded within a narrative and phenomenological theoretical accounts of identity and selfhood focused on the centrality of the human body such as those of Ricoeur (1992), Goffman (1959), Shilling (2005) and Heidegger (1953). The discussion further explores contemporary understandings of digital media, the role of the photographer and his/ her body beyond representation including accounts by Baudrillard (1994), Rubenstein & Fisher (2013) and recent scholarly appropriations on the phenomenon of the selfie published within the 2015 Featured issue (9) of the ‘International Journal of Communication’. Investigating into the lived experiences in the case of surf selfies with the GoPro action camera, it is then argued that the act of taking and sharing photographic records of one’s own body offers authenticity of one’s digital mode of existence but stands in conflict with one’s physical way of being with regards to perceived authenticity of others and one’s own experience of self. This study’s results illustrate the problematic relationship between on and offline identities, which are conclusively argued to be rooted within continuing fluctuating concepts of self between ‘the self as an image and as a body, as a constructed effect of representation and as an object and agent of representation’ (Frosh, p.1621).

The illiterate of the future will be the man [sic] who does not understand photography. (Badger, 2007, book jacket) While Bauhaus photographer László Moholy-Nagy probably did not imagine the ubiquity of digital photography today, his statement suggests that from the earliest days of photography, the visual has been acknowledged as an important form of communication. Digital technology has increased the ease with which people communicate with photographs in everyday contexts. Despite this, cultural studies scholars 2 continue to struggle for ways to articulate how we communicate through visual practices. Recent literature considering selfies (Baym and Senft, 2015; Frosh, 2015; Zappavigna, 2016; Rettberg, 2014) suggests that previous models of viewing require updating. Furthermore, Shifman's (2014a, p. 173) work considering digital memes identifies the urgent need to address 'internet memes as language' (Shifman, 2014a, p. 173-174) and to develop a 'politics of memetic participation' (Shifman, 2014a, p. 172-173). This thesis focuses on the question 'How do people communicate using photographic digital memes?' This overarching key question is addressed by 2 More detail of these theories will be covered further in this thesis. Senft identifies this by proposing 'grab', Zappavigna investigates looking as interactive. Frosh suggests a kinesthetic sociability and a move away from traditional photographic understandings. Rettberg considers filters, surveillance, images as feeds...............
https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/handle/10453/120273

Publicado en: 'Derechos humanos emergentes y periodismo'. José Manuel Gómez y Méndez … [et al.] (coords) (pp. 207-212). Sevilla : Equipo de Investigación de Análisis y Técnica de la Información, Universidad de Sevilla.

Por todos es sabido que durante la gala de entrega de los Premios Oscar de la Academia de Cine americana la noche del 2 de marzo de 2014, la humorista y presentadora de televisión Ellen De Generes tuvo la ocurrencia de acercarse hasta la primera fila del patio de butacas del teatro Kodak con el fin pedir a los actores nominados –unos elegantísimos Jennifer Lawrence, Channing Tatum, Meryl Streep o Bradd Pitt entre otros– que se hicieran todos juntos una foto de grupo con un teléfono móvil personal, que ella misma ponía a disposición.

Desde entonces, en la red de redes, millones de usuarios dieron rienda suelta a esta práctica fotográfica denominada selfie. Se podría afirmar que en la iconosfera actual se ha producido un cambio en la relación establecida entre la cámara de fotos, el fotógrafo y el objeto fotográfico, de manera que, girando sobre sí mismo, el dispositivo tecnológico pasa a ser un espejo en el que se reflejan tanto el retratista como el retratado. Si los dos actantes coinciden sobre el mismo sujeto de la enunciación fotográfica, ¿qué consecuencias implica este fenómeno?

Este trabajo empleará la metodología de la semiótica de la cultura (Lotman, 2000), en la que el texto se entiende como un “espacio plurilingüístico” en constantes movimientos dinámicos de traducción (cfr. Lotman, 1998). En paralelo a la antropología, a la sociología y a la etnografía, la semiótica del texto relaciona al universo de los signos con el mundo de la vida (lebenswelt). En última instancia, con el rigor de la semiótica generativa de A.J. Greimas y J. Courtés, se emplearán conceptos clave como el de enunciación (1982, 114; crf. Benveniste, 1977), que es perfectamente pertinente para analizar y comprender el fenómeno del selfie en la iconosfera digital.

Selfie art proposal by Mozilla for the Mozilla UK Festival 2014 under its first ever "Art & Culture of the Web" track. This proposal served to delineate my artistic background, intent, and strategy to facilitate a participatory art project using the selfie as the medium. Participants will push the boundaries of the selfie as much as they will themSelves, one another, and the community at large.

Mozilla Festival, London, UK, October 24th-26th, 2014.

www.allisonhauser.com
http://2014.mozillafestival.org/proposals/
http://mozfestartoftheweb.tumblr.com/

Self-taken pictures called " selfies " shared on social media have become a worldwide phenomenon. This is due to the increased need of human being to share to our people their daily lives and to build their own personal brand in a networked world. Despite that, the subject of personal branding has not been sufficiently discussed in academic marketing literature over the past decade. The objective of the study is to present the concept of personal branding and to better understand the role selfie has, being one of the most frequently used social network, in helping people to build personal branding in the online context. Based on a literature review, Authors highlight that building a personal brand in the network economy is one of the key factors influencing a personal position in valued networks.